MGM and Subtitles Why do they look like Crap? (1 Viewer)

[Dave Scarpa]

I Just perused my Die Another Day Disk last night and see that once again on a bond Flick the Subtitles look like Crap. They are definately electronic generated as opposed to burned in and they look horrendously cheap. Why is MGM the only studio that does this? There is a scene near the end of the flick that looks to have a burned in Subtitle and it looks alot better. What's the Deal Here ?

 

[Ron Reda]

Dave,

I noticed that also when I watched "Die Another Day" last night. They're very cheesy looking!

 

[Will K]

I hate 'em, too. I watched my DAD last night and I much prefer the subtitles they used for the theatrical prints.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

This is THE reason why I did NOT buy this disc, even for $14.99!

 

[Randy A Salas]

The quality of player-generated subtitles is also affected by the actual player. Subtitles that looked sketchy on my old JVC look much better on my newer Panasonic, which also allows the user to adjust the brightness and, best of all, the on-screen position of the words.

 

[Jonathan Dagmar]

i agree. what a stupid and pointless thing to do.

 

[Ricardo C]

Randy, which player are you referring to?? I've been looking for a player that allows the user to position the subtitles for ages now!!

 

[John H Ross]

This is my single biggest complaint with the DVD format in general, and MGM in particular.

Player-generated subtitles are cheap and unpleasant and they detract from the movie. The packaging should read "this movie has been altered from its original theatrical presentation" because such a statement would be absolutely true!

I complained about this issue extensively when Tomorrow Never Dies was first released (and later reissued) but nobody seemed interested. A little scary considering the (rightfully) perfectionist attitude on this board.

I suspect this kind of electronic tinkering will only get worse with HD-DVD and the like...

If the older Bond films truly are being remastered and reissued in 2004/5 I think it's time to make a stand NOW and demand that the burner-in subtitles are retained.

John

 

[Randy A Salas]

Ricardo, as far as I know, all of the new Panasonic models (F85, S35, S55, F65, etc.) have this option. I know for sure that the S35 and F85 have it. They allow you to move the subtitles up or down incrementally (+60 or -60) from their original position.

 

[Ricardo C]

Thanks a lot! Looks like Ricardo's getting a new DVD player this weekend

 

[Bryan Tuck]

Player-generated subtitles for language translations usually don't bother me. For location indicators, or other on-screen captions, especially multi-line ones, the really are distracting, and they take me out of the movie.

What's really bad is when there are captions explaining things that are on a specific part of the screen in a particular font. DreamWorks did this with Amistad a few years ago, and it is very distracting. Thankfully, DreamWorks has wised up, and doesn't do this anymore.

I realize that they do this to avoid making separate transfers for every country it's released in, but it is unprofessional-looking and again, distracting.

The player-generated subtitles are my only complaint about the DAD DVD, by the way. Other than that, it's outstanding.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

Hopefully, for HD-DVD, they'll find a way to make player-generated subtitles look better.